Despite Being In Foul Mood, Heat Tops Blazers

January 14, 1998|By IRA WINDERMAN Staff Writer

PORTLAND, Ore. _ — It was a victory most foul.

With whistles ringing in the ears of its big men, with bench-warmers playing and with the brawn of the roster sitting, the Heat dug deep for a 76-68 victory Tuesday night over the Portland Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden.

On a night Terry Mills and Duane Causwell played as key a role as frontline mainstays Alonzo Mourning, P.J. Brown and Isaac Austin, the Heat extended its winning streak to four, improved to 3-0 at the midpoint of its six-game western swing and held the Blazers to a franchise scoring low.

By the numbers, this was a mixed bag for the Heat _ which only made sense with foul trouble forcing coach Pat Riley to mix his power rotation at the turn of every whistle.

The Blazers, mired in a five-game losing streak, gained hope when point guard Kenny Anderson converted a 3-pointer with 7:09 to play to bring Portland within 68-61. Anderson had been 0 for 8 from the field before the miss.

But the Heat held on to win on a night Causwell had more points than Mourning (4-2), on a night when it opened the fourth quarter by missing its first 14 shots, getting it first basket of the fourth quarter on a dunk by Brown with 3:12 to play.

Riley had a foreboding of the foul trouble to follow, when, less than five minutes into the game, he argued a foul on Mourning by shouting to referee Terry Durham, ``It's a war in there.''

Ultimately, it proved to be a war of attrition for the Heat against one of the tallest front lines in the NBA, even with Portland lacking injured 6-foot-9 power forward Brian Grant.

Within the first five minutes of the second quarter, Mourning, Brown and Austin had three fouls.

Mourning later had to leave with his fourth foul just 38 seconds into the second half. Brown followed with his fourth foul 3:14 into the second half. Austin's fourth foul came with 4:50 to go in the third period.

So Riley went deep, deep, deep into his power rotation, inserting Causwell for his first significant action since Dec. 12 in Indiana.

Entering the night, Causwell had played four minutes in the Heat's previous 13 games, held out of 11 of those. He played seven minutes in the first half and entered again after Austin's fourth foul.

Riley also brought Mills out of mothballs, inserting the 6-10 forward in the first quarter. Mills had been held out of two of the three previous games, used in Denver at the start of this six-game trip only when Austin was ejected in the first quarter for arguing with the officials. Mills, who has not scored in double figures since closing with 11 points Nov. 19 against the Clippers, scored eight.

With the Heat's big men bound to the bench, Portland flexed its muscle. By the end of the third quarter, the Blazers were 18 of 26 from the foul line, with the Heat only 4 of 7. Still, the Heat managed to take a 65-55 lead into the fourth quarter.

Riley was so riled by the officiating that he was slapped with his third technical foul of the season, and third in eight games, with 8:40 to play in the second period. Riley had five technicals last season.

Yet somehow, with his primary power rotation on the bench, Riley looked on as the Heat moved to a 45-38 halftime lead.

Mourning played just six first-half minutes, Austin lasted only nine and Brown 13. Austin was on the way to busting out of a slump with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting in his limited first-half stint.

Portland, in dire need of a pure shooter, opened 1 of 11 from the field, but settled down to make five of its next six attempts as it closed within 23-22 at the end of the first quarter.

The Blazers entered on a four-game losing streak, while the Heat entered on a three-game winning streak, one victory from matching its best run of the season.